Alone Together
by proudmarveltrash
Summary: Sequel to Heaven Knows. IM3. Family has never ended well for Charlie. When things go wrong, because they always do, she has always run and gone into hiding. It's a tactic that's worked out well for her in the past. When she thinks the Mandarin has killed Tony, however, running is the last thing on her mind. This time, she's out for revenge, and she'll get it at any cost.
1. Prologue

Welcome to **Alone Together**!

This is the sequel to my Avengers fanfiction **Heaven Knows** , meaning if you haven't read that one yet you might get confused, so I strongly recommend going back and reading it first. I have another story started for this series, called **Regular People**. It will be posted later on. It will be a series of one-shots set in between the six month time period in between Avengers and Iron Man 3, and will focus mainly on the growing relationships between Charlie and the other Avengers- especially Tony.

But for now, here we are six months after we left Charlie.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **Prologue**

Normal is boring. Every angst-riddled teenager has declared it, every responsibility-addled adult has denied it, but the simple truth is that normal is, in fact, boring.

This is what Charlie had always believed. She was glad that none of her friends considered her normal, because she didn't consider any of them normal either.

Sometimes, though. Sometimes, Charlie started to miss the friends she'd left behind in New York when she agreed to move in with Tony at his mansion in Malibu. Sometimes, Charlie regretted leaving her position at SHIELD. Sometimes, night would transition into the early hours of morning and Charlie found herself laying alone in the spacious room she shared with Tony that seemed all too big without him. Sometimes, Charlie would try to convince him to leave his suits and come to bed. Sometimes, Charlie tried to make Tony eat when she saw that he was dropping weight. Sometimes, Charlie didn't bother.

Yes, sometimes. Sometimes Charlie wondered what it was like to be normal. What it was like to be a normal girl. Normal job. Normal friends. Normal boyfriend. Normal life.

Other times, though. Other times, Charlie would get a phone call from her friends in New York to update her on how their lives were going, and ask her about how things had been going in Malibu. Other times, Charlie would convince Tony to come to bed and spend the night wrapped up in his warmth while he teasingly compared sleeping next to her with sleeping next to an icicle. Other times, Charlie and Tony would go out to dinner if they could slip away from the press. Other times, Charlie would help Tony with his calculations when he worked on his suits.

Yes, other times. Other times Charlie was glad she wasn't normal. Not a normal girl. Not normal friends. Not a normal boyfriend. Not a normal life.

Normal is boring. This very thought was on Charlie's mind as she crawled out of bed at 3:57 AM and made her way down two flights of stairs in her simple tee-shirt and sweats pajamas, down to where she knew Tony was still awake and working. She wasn't sure if tonight was sometimes, or other times. She would find out soon enough.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

" _I don't know where you're going but do you got room for one more troubled soul? I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home. I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead, but this is the road to ruin and we're starting at the end."_

 _Alone Together – Fall Out Boy_

* * *

Tonight was a 'sometimes night', as I had taken to calling the nights when Tony refused to leave his lab. It was actually the third sometimes night in a row, which is why I bothered to drag myself out of bed at the sound of loud, funky Christmas music drifting up from the basement. Mumbling about Tony's idiocy, I pulled a Stark Industries sweatshirt over my head and made my way downstairs to see what he was up to now.

The closer I got to the lab, the more sounds I heard that I was 82 percent positive were not coming from Tony's record player. Smashing glass, clanging metal, loud grunts of pain… Have I mentioned that Tony is an idiot lately?

One harsh clang rumbled over the rest as I reached the top of the basement stairs, and I involuntarily winced. That one sounded like it hurt. "Jarvis?"

" _Yes, Miss Charlotte?"_

"Charlie, J," I corrected half-heartedly. No matter how many times I told the A.I to call me Charlie, he never did. "What's Tony up to down there?"

" _I'm afraid that information is not currently available."_

I sighed, running a hand down my face. Normally I could deal with Tony's crap- hell, if he could deal with me, the least I owed him was a bit of understanding. But locking me out of Jarvis? Low. "Can you open the lab for me so I can see for myself then?" I asked.

" _One moment, please."_

One moment later, the door clicked as it unlocked and I pushed it open to see Tony leaning against one of his work tables nonchalantly. A little too nonchalantly for my tastes, actually. "What did you break?" I asked, inspecting the lab for damage- which there was quite enough of to see.

"Nothing important," Tony answered with a shrug. He still wouldn't look at me.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes in a vain attempt to wake myself up. I was way too tired to deal with anything other than sleep at the moment, but living with Tony Stark was pretty much a guarantee that you would have to deal with all sorts of shit you didn't want to.

"Okay," I said with a nod and crossed my arms over my stomach, pulling the sweatshirt tighter. Trying to make him talk about something he didn't want to talk about was pointless. "Why do you keep your lab so freaking cold?"

"Why aren't you in bed?" he asked instead of answering me.

"Why aren't you?"

He shrugged again. "Working. You should be sleeping."

"You're one to talk," I countered, pointing at the dark circles under his eyes. "You haven't come to bed in three days, Tony. I really think- _can you stop shrugging, dammit?"_ Tony raised an eyebrow at my outburst, and I sighed again before stepping closer to him. "Sorry. I'm tired. And I know you are too, so just… come on."

Tony rolled his eyes, probably thinking I didn't see it since he was looking at the floor, but closed the distance between us anyway and wrapped his arms around my waist. I let my head tuck under his chin, resting my forehead against his chest while he kissed my hair. "I will," he promised. "I'll come to bed. I'm almost done down here, I just need to finish this Mark. You can go on without me."

How did I see that coming? Deciding that it was the best I was going to get however, I compromised. I nodded my head, standing up on my tip-toes to give him a quick kiss. He kissed me back and I offered him a smile to show that I understood before backing away and grabbing his rolling stool, settling myself onto it comfortably with one leg tucked up under the other.

"Wow, the bed has gotten a lot smaller since last time I saw it," Tony remarked mockingly.

"I'll go to bed when you do," I declared, ignoring his little quip. I could tell he was about to start arguing the point, but I wasn't going to hear it. So I kicked the ground to roll the stool closer to his desk, booting up my own laptop that I kept down here for such situations.

Probably realizing that I wasn't going to leave the lab until he did, Tony didn't argue my presence any further and simply went back to fidgeting with his latest suit. I had lost count of which one he was on, honestly.

I had severely underestimated just how tired I was, because before I could finish even one equation I had passed out with my head resting on my arm.

* * *

I woke up the next morning still in the lab, but I had been moved to the comfortable red couch that I had insisted Tony put in here so he could at least take naps whenever he felt the need- which he never did. Speaking of Tony, the second thing I noticed was that he wasn't anywhere around.

There was a small glimmer of hope that he had actually gone to sleep, but that hope was effectively crushed when I saw the little note sitting on the desk closest to me. I reached out and grabbed it, reading over it quickly.

 _Went to lunch with Rhodey. I'll probably be back before you even wake up. Don't break anything while I'm out._

 _T_

"Asshole," I chuckled to myself, tossing the paper back onto the desk as I stood and stretched. I was glad he had gone out with Rhodey, even though it had most likely been at least a bit against his will. He needed to be out of the house, and he needed a decent meal.

I decided to fix up the basement while Tony was out, and snatched a lollipop from one of my many, _many_ hidden stashes from around the house- this one was taped under the metal workbench- and twirled the candy absentmindedly as I sorted through papers into 'important' and 'not important'.

My relief was short-lived however when I received a distress call from none other than the man Tony was supposed to be relaxing with. When my phone started blasting Iron Man by Black Sabbath (Tony's doing, obviously, the predictable loser) I had assumed the call was from Tony, and answered with, "What's cookin', good lookin'?"

"Charlie?"

Not Tony. Whoops. "Rhodes, my man," I chuckled, glad nobody was around to see me blushing at my mistake. "What's shakin'? I thought you were out with Tony."

"I was," he answered. "But here's the thing- these two kids asked him for his autograph, but he broke the crayon and flipped out."

"Flipped out?" I repeated, stopping my work with the papers to give the phone call my full attention. "What do you mean he flipped out?"

He went on to explain that Tony had jumped back from the table and ran outside. When Rhodey had caught up with him, he saw Tony kneeling on the street and talking to Jarvis through the suit before flying off without telling Rhodey anything else.

It didn't make much sense to me, but it more than likely had something to do with his lack of sleep. At least, that's what I figured at the time. Whatever the cause, I was already on my way out of the lab and up to the bedroom to change clothes. "Thanks, Rhodey."

"Anytime. Keep me updated on what's happening, alright? He's been weird since New York, and I worry about him, you know?"

"I know," I confirmed, nodding even though he couldn't see me. "The minute I know what's wrong, you'll know."

He thanked me again before hanging up, and by that time I had changed from my pajamas into something more suitable for the public eye and was running out the door. Tony wasn't going to come home as long as he was freaking out, he would prefer to spend time alone in his suit. I was just going to pretend that didn't sting, and go to the next best source of information on Tony.

Pepper.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

I was at Stark Industries in record time, having opted to drive myself rather than walk or take a taxi. Ever since the whole New York incident, on top of being a public figure with Tony, it wasn't difficult to walk straight through the building with little resistance. After years of being an underground hacker, it was kind of disconcerting to have people I'd never met know everything about me. Well, almost everything.

"What I'm saying is that the human element of human resources is our biggest point of vulnerability. We should start phasing it out immediately."

I turned away from the woman at the front desk that I had been talking to about where I could find Pepper to see the very woman I had been looking for walking with Happy in the opposite direction. After offering a quick goodbye to the woman, I hurried after them.

"What?" Pepper practically screeched at Happy's suggestion to replace janitors with robots. "Did you just say that?"

"I completely agree," I jumped into the conversation, placing my hand on Pepper's elbow to alert her to my presence. "This all makes perfect sense to me, Happy Face."

"What?" Pepper repeated, looking from Happy to me, then back to Happy. "Look, Happy. I am thrilled that you are the new Head of Security-"

"Congrats, by the way, buddy," I interjected, to which Happy nodded with a smile of gratitude.

"It is the perfect position for you," Pepper continued. "However, since you've taken the post, we've had a rise in staff complaints by 300 percent."

"New record!" I praised him, and held a hand out for a high-five, which Pepper promptly grabbed and returned to my side.

Happy shrugged with his same smile. "Thank you."

"It's not a compliment."

"It's not- It _is_ a compliment," Happy argued. "Clearly somebody's trying to hide something."

While watching these two go back and forth was greatly amusing, I had come for a reason and none of this was helping with that. "Hey Haps, while I would love to stick around and congratulate you properly by helping you rag on the employees, I have something important to talk about with Pepper."

Pepper started saying something about an appointment she was supposed to be having right now, but I ignored her and dragged her off to her office where we could speak in private. Happy called after us about not having this appointment cleared, and me needing to get an ID badge, which we both ignored.

Once we were inside her office, I closed the door behind us to make sure Happy wouldn't follow us inside. "Are you gonna tell me what this is about, Charlie?" Pepper sighed. "I have somebody coming in soon, so I really don't have time-"

"It's about Tony," I cut her off, and her whole demeanor changed.

"What about Tony?"

I relayed everything Rhodey had told me from the phone call this morning, from New York to the Mandarin to his spectacle in the suit. "I don't understand any of it, which is something totally new for me," I scoffed, rubbing my forehead in frustration. "I don't understand people. Math, sure. Science, hell yeah. Computers, I'm unbeatable. But emotions? How the hell am I supposed to deal with this shit? Ever since New York Tony has been acting janky, so we moved out to Malibu. I thought that maybe getting away from New York was what he needed, but it's only getting worse, and I don't understand!"

After my little rant, Pepper's response was cut off by a knock at the glass door. Pepper and I both turned to see who it was, and from the corner of my eye I could practically see her jaw drop. A tall blond man in a suit walked in, grinning from ear to ear. Her 4:00 appointment, I guessed. "Hello, Pepper."

"Killian?" she squinted her eyes slightly, like she was staring at the sun.

"You look great," Killian continued. "You look _really_ great." He turned to look at me, and I wondered if he knew who I was or not.

"Oh, right. This, uh…" Pepper was stammering to introduce me, and while I was completely baffled as to why she couldn't form a coherent sentence in front of this guy, I still saved her from further embarrassment by shutting her up.

"Charlie," I introduced myself. "Nice to meet you, Killian. Swanky tie, by the way- I'm digging the red."

Usually when people met me for the first time they were confused, or even scared in some cases. But this guy didn't even blink. That was going to have to change. "Please, call me Aldrich."

"I'm gonna call you Richie."

He raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but continued to smile with amusement which I took as the green light to continue using it. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Charlie. You're Tony's girlfriend, aren't you?"

"According to the press," I answered with a shrug. "Though I spend more time on a computer than with him, really. It's a functionally dysfunctional relationship. Pretty common these days. I don't think I've ever heard of you though, Richie. What is it exactly that you do?"

"Biotech research, to put it simply." He mimicked my shrug with a cool smirk. Seriously, I didn't bother him at all? "What is it exactly that _you_ do?"

"Everything I put my mind to."

Killian and I silently stared at each other. Why do I feel like I know this guy? I hadn't ever seen him before, but his demeanor was almost uncomfortably familiar. Pepper chose this time to intervene, stepping in between us, facing Killian. "So, you said you were here to discuss your newest discoveries?"

Killian nodded and moved to take a seat on the couch against the far window. Pepper gave me a pointed look that clearly conveyed it was time for me to leave, but I didn't have the answers I had come for yet. I wasn't going anywhere. "You two carry on," I said with a wave of my hand, leaning my back against the wall. "I'll just quietly observe."

Pepper rolled her eyes, and asked Killian, "Do you mind? She's stubborn, but she shouldn't disturb us."

"No, not at all," Killian shook his head. "She's quite welcome to stay. I'm sure she might even have some valuable input on the project."

"See, Pep?" I smiled innocently. "Richie thinks my input is valuable."

Pepper sighed, her usual sign of begrudging approval, and sat next to Killian on the couch. "Alright. So, show me what you've been working on."

"After years of dodging the President's ban on 'immoral' biotech research," Killian started, making air quotes around the word immoral. That was never a good sign. "My think tank now has a little something in the pipeline. It's an idea we like to call Extremis." He waved a small remote with a smile. "I'm gonna turn your lights down." The lights went off, and the only light left in the room was coming in through the windows. He then pulled three silver balls out of his pocket. "Regard the human brain."

Killian rolled the balls onto the table, and they froze in the middle. A projection appeared in the air, red smoke and twinkling lights. "Oh, my bad," he chuckled. "That's- that's the universe. But if I do this…"  
he clicked a button on his remote and the image changed to blue, with the twinkling lights firing around inside the cloud. "That's the brain. Strangely mimetic though, wouldn't you say?"

"It's amazing," Pepper said, mesmerized.

"Thanks, it's mine."

"What?"

"You're inside my head," Killian explained, tapping behind his ear. "It's alive feed. Come on, I'll prove it to you." He stepped onto the table, standing right in the middle of the projection. "Come on," he repeated, motioning for both Pepper and I to stand inside it with him. Pepper stood and followed him inside, and he turned to me. "You too."

I walked closer, but chose to remain standing just outside of the image. "No thanks," I said with a small shake of my head. "I prefer staying in my own head as opposed to other people's."

"You'd be surprised at how fascinating it can be," he goaded with a little smirk. "Take a risk."

I thought about it for a minute, then shrugged. "What the hell?" I asked myself, and joined them inside of the projection.

"Now pinch my arm." Killian held his arm out between Pepper and I. She looked at me cautiously, but after I shrugged she looked down at his arm and gave it a small pinch. When she did, glowing orange neurons fired from the center of his brain outwards.

"What is that?" Pepper gasped, staring in awe at the glow above her.

"The primary somatosensory cortex," I answered before Killian could, and he nodded to indicate that I was correct. Like I needed him to tell me that. Ha. "It's the pain center in the brain. When you pinched him, it fired off neurons to alert the brain that his arm was feeling pain."

"Extraordinary," Pepper sighed, shaking her head.

"You should see what his brain looks like if he's actually hurt," I suggested, earning me a harsh glare from my friend. "Purely for science, of course," I quickly defended.

"Actually," Killian jumped in, "this is what I really wanted to show you." He put his arms around mine and Pepper's shoulders, turning us to face a different area of the brain. He pushed another button on the remote and the image zoomed in to what looked like a miniature black hole. "Now, Extremis harnesses our biometrical potential, and it goes… here. This is essentially an empty slot, and what this tells us is that our mind- our entire DNA, in fact- is destined to be upgraded."

Pepper looked almost completely sold on the idea, but I wasn't so sure. And when I'm not so sure, I'm not so quiet. "Not exactly," I disagreed.

Killian raised his eyebrow, removing his arms from around me and Pepper before shutting the projection off. "You disagree?"

"Obviously," I scoffed, stepping off the table. I paced a small portion of the room, a habit of mine whenever I'm thinking. Your whole idea of upgrading the human brain is swanky and all, don't get me wrong, Richie. Very ambitious. I respect that. But dude, there's a fine line between new science and playing God."

Killian followed me off the table, locking his arms behind his back and tilting his head to the side as he watched me pace. "Where exactly would you draw that line?"

"Probably right around experimental procedures that aren't even necessary."

"Not necessary?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "Evolution is not only necessary, but inevitable. If we never cross a line, we never progress."

"Cute," I chuckled. "You think you're changing the world."

He still never stopped smiling. It was almost creepy at this point. "I don't think, Charlotte. I _am_ changing the world."

I stopped mid-pace and narrowed my eyes slightly. "Charlie. Never Charlotte."

"My apologies." Killian held his hands out defensively, but that fact that he was still wearing that stupid grin made me think he wasn't actually sorry at all. "Charlie. You know, you remind me a lot of somebody I used to work with."

"Really?" I asked, crossing my arms. "You knew another incredibly attractive, fun-loving, joke-telling, sugar-obsessed genius?"

"Yes," he answered easily. His smile faltered only slightly, but it was enough to make me think I was finally getting somewhere until he asked his next question. "You're not as innocent as you make yourself out to be, are you Charlie?"

As innocent as I make myself out to be? Who the hell is this guy, anyway? "I wasn't aware I was making myself out to be anything other than my incredibly attractive, fun-loving, joke-telling, sugar-obsessed genius self."

"Have you ever heard of the infamous hacker Lockpick?"

Obviously. "Nope."

"Allow me to enlighten you, then. Lockpick was famous underground for being the best hacker of this generation. There was no lock too difficult for him to open. What made him especially interesting, however was that he didn't steal money, or launch codes. He stole secrets. Whole businesses crumbled because of him. Needless to say, he made plenty of enemies." I did not like where this was going at all. "Enemies who would be very interested in knowing Lockpick personally."

"Sounds pretty badass to me," I shrugged, meeting Killian's gaze head on. There was no way in hell he actually knew he was talking about me. "So are you a fan, or an enemy?"

"A friend, actually." Liar. "I actually worked with Lockpick for quite a while- strictly in legal matters, of course- before he suddenly dropped off the grid just over six months ago. Would you like to know what Lockpick called me?"

Not really. "Sure."

"Gatekeeper."

What. The. Shit. "You?" I asked, momentarily stunned. This creepy-as-all-hell blondie was my partner in crime- the first person to advise me against hacking into SHIELD? No way. I refuse to believe it. "Rad, I guess." Killian's smile twisted into a smirk, and I was suddenly unbelievably uncomfortable in the room. Pepper had been listening to this whole conversation with a confused expression, and I sent her silent apologies as I inched closer to the door. "Well, if you'll excuse me. I need to go… talk to Tony."

"Of course," Killian dismissed me. "It was lovely to finally meet you, Charlie. I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other again soon." He turned back to Pepper, motioning for her to return to the couch, and I took this chance to slip out of the office.

Happy, who had been holding up a tablet pointed towards Pepper's office, dropped it into his lap when he saw me walking up to him. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the screen from him. "What're you hiding, Haps?"

Tony was on the screen, working in his lab. When had he gotten home? He looked up from his work and raised his eyebrows when he saw me instead of Happy. "I was wondering where you had gone off to," he said, waving a screwdriver towards the camera. "What's this I hear about you standing inside some other guy's brain? Is my brain not enough for you anymore?"

I sent Happy a quick 'really?' stare, which he actively avoided looking at, before returning my attention to Tony. "It's not important right now. I'll be home in 15 minutes, and when I get there, you will not be in the lab. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded, even as he was going back to his work.

I flicked the bottom of the tablet where the microphone was, and he rolled his eyes at the thumping sound. "I'm serious, Wonderboy."

"That's a first."

"Shut up," I snapped lightly. "15 minutes. Out of the lab. Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Tiny. See you then."

I handed Happy his tablet back. "Resume your spying," I joked before turning around and walking out of the lobby, towards the garage where I had parked the car I'd stolen from Tony. If he was still in the lab when I got back, I was so kicking the crap out of him.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Exactly 15 minutes later, I pulled into the circular driveway in front of the house and saw one of the weirdest things I had ever seen before. Next to the front doors was a white teddy bear wearing a red bowtie. This wasn't any normal teddy bear, however. No, Tony didn't do anything half-assed. This was the largest bear I had ever seen, towering at least a good 20 feet in the air.

"What the hell did he do now?" I grumbled to myself as I climbed out of the car. If Tony went so far as to special order a gift like this, he must have seriously screwed something up. "Wait..." In front of the teddy bear were five large cardboard boxes. What else had he bought?

I opened the lid to the first one and laughed out loud at the contents. Inside the box was an uncountable number of cherry flavored Blow Pops. "Of course," I mumbled, shaking my head. "Of course he would do this. He must have really fucked up this time."

I left the gifts outside, not really having much of a choice in the matter anyway seeing as I wouldn't have been able to carry them, and walked into the house. I did, however, take one lollipop out of the first box and stick it in my mouth. "You better not be in the lab!" I called out, dropping the car keys on a side table. "Because I swear if you-" Sitting on the couch with his legs crossed and one arm draped casually over the back was none other than Iron Man. "Wait, you... God, you're wearing these just for fun now? What Mark is this one, 203?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Tony's mechanical voice scoffed as he stood from the couch. "Its obviously Mark 207." I propped my hands my hands on my hips, considering the possibility that he might actually be serious. "I'm kidding."

"Mhm," I hummed. "Yeah, why are you wearing it in the living room again?"

"Everybody has a hobby," he shrugged.

"Not everybody wears their hobbies."

"Just breaking it in," Tony insisted, moving to stand in front of me. "Hey, did you see your Christmas present?"

"Christmas present?" I asked, tapping the lollipop against my bottom lip. "I don't remember any Christmas present."

"Haha, funny. I do love your sense of humor. Seriously, isn't it great? I think it's pretty great. Especially the lollipops, those were genius."

"Oh yes," I praised teasingly. "However did you notice my affinity for Blow Pops? It's not like a flaunt them around every chance I get or anything silly like that."

"You're going to hurt my feelings," he warned.

I clicked my tongue and sat in a nearby chair, sifting through random papers on the side table. "Wouldn't want that, would we?" I picked up the papers and saw that they were drawings done in crayon of Iron Man. Fan letters. How adorable.

Tony stepped loudly behind me and put his metal hands on my shoulders. "So how was your day?" he asked, massaging my back as gently as he could in the suit. "Good? I hope it was good. Look, I don't mean to harp on this, but seriously. The bear. The lollipops. Did you like them?"

I 'hmm'ed, and stood, placing my hands on Tony's chest. "They were very thoughtful," I smiled. "But you know what I like even more than candy?"

"Uh..." Tony looked off to his left for a second. "Trick question, right? Nothing. You love those little suckers. It's scary how much you like them, actually. I'm almost jealous."

"Mm, no," I shook my head. "Not a trick question. If you lift your face mask I can let you in on my little secret."

"That's, uh," Tony knocked his fist against the side of his helmet. "Damn it, no can do. The mask must be stuck."

What a terrible liar. "Oh, really?" I poured, stepping back from him. "Well, no matter. I'll just run down to the basement and find a crowbar to pry it open with."

"Crowbar," he chuckled while I walked away. "Yeah, that's- no! No, no, you don't wanna go down there. There was a- a radiation leak."

"Really?" I asked over my shoulder, starting down the stairs. "But you were down there just 15 minutes ago. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"At least let me get you a hazmat suit." I pushed open the lab door and saw Tony doing pull-ups on a red bar with his back facing me. "A Geiger counter, something like that."

I crossed my arms over my chest and tilted my head to the side. Seriously? He sent the suit in his place? "Busted," I called, and he dropped from the bar with a heavy sigh. The suit came down the stairs behind me, and stood at my side. "Really, Tony? The suit?"

"Well I was just-"

"Him," I corrected, pointing at the suit.

"Right, him, whatever. We were just hosting you while I finished up a little work."

"15 minutes," I shook my head. "I told you, 15 minutes. You told me you wouldn't be down here."

"I never actually agreed to that," he argued, walking closer. "Besides, I figured you might be a bit caught up with Aldrich Killian."

The suit turned to look at me. "What?" I snapped. It backed away, heading towards an empty slot in the wall, and I turned my attention back to Tony. "What do you mean caught up with Richie?"

"Oh, he has a nickname now?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. "How close did you two get today, exactly?"

I scoffed at that, dropping my arms and slapping them against my thighs. "Seriously, Wonderboy? I give everybody nicknames, you know that. And besides, even if I was talking to Richie, why do you care? What did you think was gonna happen?"

"I don't know what I thought," he shrugged with his arms out at his sides. "But what I want to know is why you were there in the first place. You never go up to Stark Industries, and the one day you do you're inside of some other guy's head. Literally. What's wrong with my head?"

"I didn't think your ego would let you be this insecure," I laughed. This was so stupid. It was impossible to know what Tony was thinking. "Whatever. I'm just gonna go to bed. You're staying down here, right?" I asked, walking backwards towards the stairs. "I guess I'll see you in a few days. You know, whenever you decide that I'm worth seeing more than your suits."

I was halfway up the steps when Tony called out to me. "Wait, Charlie. Stop. I admit it, okay? I'm a piping hot mess." I already knew that, but I stopped and turned back to face him anyway. It was the first time he said anything about it, even though it was obvious. "It's been bad for a while. Nothing's been the same since New York. You experience things, then they're over, and you still can't explain them? Gods, aliens, other dimensions? I- I'm just a man in a can."

I walked back down the stairs to stand in front of Tony, both of us crossing our arms in front of us. "I know," I said in one of my rare serious moments. "I was there too, Tony. I'm just a computer geek. How do you think I felt on that roof, knowing that I wasn't doing anything useful?"

"It was different," he sighed, shaking his head. "I went in that portal, and everything was just... dark. The only reason I haven't cracked up is because you moved in- which is great. You're great. You're wonderful. Okay? But honey, I can't sleep. You go to bed, and I come down here to do what I know." Tony stepped back, motioning around the lab to indicate all the suits he's collected in the last several months. "I tinker. I do what I can. Threat is imminent. And I have to protect the people I love, the one thing I can't live without. That's you," he pointed at me. "I have to protect you. And the suits?"

"They're a part of you," I answered, walking forward and placing my hands on his biceps. "I understand."

Tony nodded, working his jaw in circles. Neither of us were very good at expressing emotion, and I knew that him admitting all of this had been crazy difficult for him. "Thank you," he said quietly.

I moved my hands up to remove his headgear and drop it onto the counter, leaning my forehead against his. We stood still for a minute, letting the moment dissipate. Once it was gone, I stood up on my toes to kiss him. "Do you wanna move on to the steamy bits?"

He chuckled and nodded his head. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"Good," I agreed with a grin. "Bedtime, Wonderboy."

* * *

For the first time in a long time, it was finally an 'other times' night. After a long shower and very, very happy times, Tony and I had fallen asleep together in the huge, plush bed.

I was very pleasantly wrapped up in the thick comforter and snuggled against Tony's back when I felt him start to twitch, waking me up. I sat up groggily, rubbing my eyes. He was whimpering, and I knew he was having another nightmare. "Hey, Tony?" I shook his shoulder gently in an attempt to wake him. "C'mon, honey. Wake-"

A cool, hard hand gripped my wrist, twisting me onto my back and pinning me to the bed. Shocked, I stared up into the glowing eyes of an iron suit.

"Power down!" The suit dropped me and stood on the side of the bed to shut down. Once it was turned off, Tony smashed it into pieces with something he had grabbed off the nightstand. "I must have called it in my sleep," he explained, running his hand back through his hair. "That's not supposed to happen."

"No shit," I breathed, sitting up in the bed and shoving the blankets down to my ankles before climbing out.

"I'll recalibrate the sensors. Just let me, let me catch my breath."

I stood next to the bed, staring down at the broken remains of the Iron Man suit. "I try," I whispered, coming down from my adrenaline rush. "I try, I really do. I try to be okay with these things."

"I know," Tony said, taking my hand in his and pulling me into a hug. "I know. I'm sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen."

"I try to be okay with it," I repeated. "But that was... I was not okay with that."

"I don't expect you to be."

"Yes, you do." I pulled away from him, sighing. "You expect me to- to just... But I'm not. I get it. You had a rough time in New York. But you're not the only one that's terrified of what might happen. You're not the only one who wishes they could do more."

I grabbed my pillow and a blanket off the bed, stepping around Tony to leave the bedroom. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm sleeping downstairs."

"Charlie, don't. Don't do that, don't go."

I paused and gave him the typical are-you-kidding-me? stare. "Don't be a hypocrite, Tony. If you can spend days in your basement, I can spend one night on the couch." I walked out of the bedroom, calling 'goodnight' over my shoulder before closing the door.


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

The next morning Tony ran out of the house after hearing that Happy was in the hospital from a Mandarin attack. I stayed behind, saying I hadn't gotten much sleep. When he was gone, I went into the bedroom and started packing. Tony meant the world to me, which was a big deal considering my history with people, but I couldn't stay in this house much longer without losing what little remained of my sanity.

I would come back, but at least for now I needed to leave before I suffocated. I spent eight years in my basement as an underground hacker with minimal to no human interaction. Dealing with a relationship was most definitely not my strong suit, especially when both of us were at least a bit unstable.

Right as I was zipping my bag shut, my phone rang. I glanced at the ID and answered it immediately after. "What's up, Pep?"

"Turn on the news, now."

"Why do you-"

" _Now,_ Charlie."

After hanging up, I abandoned my packing to hurry down to the living room and switch on the TV. I wasn't normally so obedient, but what can I say? Pepper can be scary when she wants to be.

Channel 11 flickered on, and I saw Tony outside of the hospital surrounded by reporters. "Mr. Stark!" "Hey, Tony!" "Mr. Stark, just one moment!" "Mr. Stark, this all points to another Mandarin attack. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Tony ignored the questions he was bombarded with as he walked closer to his car, but one in particular had him stop right before he opened his door. "Mr. Stark, when is somebody gonna kill this guy?" Tony turned away from the car to stare at the man, who shrugged. "I'm just saying."

"Is that what you want?" Tony asked, and the man nodded. "Here's a little holiday greeting I've been wanting to send to the Mandarin. I just didn't know how to phrase it until now. My name is Tony Stark and I'm not afraid of you. I know you're a coward, so I've decided that you just died pal."

He pulled off his sunglasses at the same time I dropped onto the couch, full attention on the TV screen. "I'm gonna come get the body. There's no politics here. It's just good old-fashioned revenge. There's no Pentagon, it's just _you_ and _me._ And on the off chance you're a man, here's my home address. 10880 Malibu Point, 90265. I'll leave the door unlocked. That's what you wanted, right?" Tony grabbed the phone from the man who had asked the question and threw it against a brick pillar. "Bill me."

The reporters were firing off questions faster than bullets, but neither Tony or I were paying them any more attention. He was inside his car and pulling away from the hospital, and I was running back upstairs to finish packing for a completely different reason.

* * *

As soon as Tony was back, I was physically blocking him from going into the basement. "Are you actually insane, or are you actually stupid?" I demanded, keeping him away from the door with a hand on his chest. I knew he could overpower me if he wanted to, but at least for now he was staying and listening to me.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he promised, and tried to step around me.

I blocked his path again, scoffing and raising my eyebrows. "Seriously? You threatened the Scary Orange, and he is so not going to take that sitting down."

"Scary oran- what are you talking about?"

"The Mandarin!" I explained with a huff. "Mandarins, oranges. He's a Scary Orange, Tony!"

"You know, your nicknames for people just get weirder and weirder."

"That is not the point!" I yelled. "The point is that the Mandarin knows where we live. Not on accident, not because he found out, but because _you told him._ So I'll ask again. Are you actually insane, or are you actually stupid?"

"Neither." Tony finally brushed past me and made his way down to the lab. "Even if he does come here, I won't let him hurt you. I promise. You'll be all right."

"Yeah, last time you promised I would be all right, I was tortured by Loki and you flew into a portal." Tony froze halfway into the lab, and his back visibly stiffened. So, maybe that had been a _bit_ harsh. I walked behind him and touched his back gently, trying not to scare him. I may not know much about people, but I know how easy it is to scare off an already frightened animal. People weren't that much different, were they? "I'm not just worried about something happening to me, Tony. I'm worried about something happening to you."

Tony didn't move for a while, standing completely still with my hand resting in between his shoulder blades. When I tried to move to his shoulder, he finally stepped forward and turned on his computer. "You don't need to worry about anything. I'll get you out of this. I'll fix everything."

Again the argument on the Helicarrier from six months ago played over in my head, although the visions were blurred from my own pain at the time. Just at the memory of the excruciating headaches I felt a shudder run down my back, and I wrapped my arms around myself.

 _You're gonna be okay, Charlie. I'll get you out of this, I promise._

"Yeah," I nodded, even though he wasn't looking at me, and backed out of the basement. "Yeah, you've said that before, too."

* * *

I had just finished packing bags for both Tony and I when the doorbell rang, and my blood ran cold. The Mandarin wouldn't be so arrogant as to just ring our doorbell, would he? Remembering all of his past crimes and news footage, however, I wasn't so sure that he wouldn't do just that. I grabbed the two bags and walked out onto the stairs landing, listening to the conversation Tony was having with somebody below.

"You're not the Mandarin. Are you? _Are you?_ "

"You don't remember," a girl chuckled. Not the Scary Orange? Well, okay then. Back to running for our freaking lives. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Don't take it personally, I don't remember what I had for breakfast." I didn't know he'd even had breakfast.

" _Gluten free waffles, sir."_

"That's right," Tony said after Jarvis reminded him. Why hadn't I had breakfast? I was going to have to ask Jarvis about that when I wasn't preoccupied with trying to live.

"Okay, look," the girl said. "I need to be alone with you, someplace not here. It's urgent."

"Yeah, normally I'd go for that sort of thing, but now I'm in a committed relationship." He wasn't lying, but since I was still pissed at him I took this glorious opportunity to toss two of the bags over the railing. They landed right at his feet. Ha. "With her."

I came down the stairs, stealing a look at the girl who had come to see Tony so _urgently_ as she put it. "Damn right, committed," I muttered under my breath before speaking so he could hear me. "Tony, who's there?"

"Maya Hansen." So he does remember her. I'm not jealous. I don't get jealous. I am not the jealous type. Not jealous. "Old botanist pal that I used to know, barely."

When I came further down the stairs I saw that Tony had stepped out of his suit and was muttering something I couldn't hear with Maya. Not jealous. I walked over until I was standing next to Tony, and they stopped talking about whatever it was they had been whispering. _Not jealous_. "I thought the only guest we were expecting was Scary Orange."

"Scary… what?" Maya asked, clear confusion written all over her face.

"She does that," Tony explained quickly. "Nicknames. Don't be surprised if she-"

"Dirty Dietz."

"-gives you one," he finished, rubbing his forehead. "Okay."

"Ex-girlfriend or one night stand?" I asked, leaning in closer to Maya.

She took a step back, clearly uncomfortable. Good. After Killian, I needed someone to be uncomfortable around me. "It was just one night."

"Swanky," I nodded, standing back up straight. "Good for you. I wish I was that lucky."

"What?" Tony asked, staring at me. I ignored him. He deserved it.

"Yeah, trust me," I smiled. "So, I'm leaving. I packed for you too, Johnny Bravo. You're welcome to join me if, y'know, you feel like living past six p.m."

"No!" Tony shook his head furiously. "Charlie, we've been over this. Nope. Not going. Neither are you."

"Yep!" I shouted right back. "I'm leaving, and so are you. We are going far, far, _far_ away."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Great idea," Maya added. "We should go. All of us. Now."

"I'm sorry, _terrible_ idea," Tony argued. When Maya grabbed the bags to move them outside, Tony pointed at her. "No! Don't touch the bags!"

The bear, which had been moved inside, was now the center of Maya's attention. "Is that normal?"

"Yes, it's normal!" Tony yelled at the same time I shouted, "Unfortunately, with him!"

" _Unfortunately?_ I thought you liked it!"

"I never said I did!"

"You don't like it?"

"I didn't say that either!"

"Give me a straight answer, _for once!_ "

"Why should I? You never answer me!"

"Oh, seriously? You want to do this now?"

"Considering we could be _dead_ in the next few minutes- thanks for that, by the way, that is _completely_ on you- yeah! There might not be another time to do it!"

"I told you that I'll protect you!"

"I don't want you to have to protect me from threats that are _your fault_!"

"Guys," Maya said, but Tony and I were way too into it now to pay her any attention. This had been building for a while now, and there wasn't any more holding back.

"My fault?" Tony scoffed. "I never asked the Mandarin to come around. He's been killing people for weeks. It had nothing to do with me!"

"Then why did you involve yourself?"

"Because that's what I do! I'm Iron Man! I save people!"

"You're not Iron Man! You're Tony Stark! You wear a metal suit, but that's not who you _are_!"

"Guys!" Maya shouted, grabbing me and Tony and pointing towards the TV that still had the news playing. "Should we be worried about that?"

On screen was our house, and heading straight for it was a thick line of smoke. Before I could register what was causing the smoke, a missile shattered through the window. The following explosion knocked the three of us in different directions, but to my right I saw Tony holding out his hands the way he always did when calling his suit. To my surprise, the suit that had been standing next to the TV flew to me, wrapping around me protectively.

The mask slammed against the helmet at the same time as my landing, and even inside of the suit I could feel the impact from hitting the ground. I groaned and blinked a few times to readjust my vision, and what I saw was the ceiling crumbling to pieces. _Tony._

He was still laying on the floor to my right, and before the roof could collapse on top of him I rolled over and sat up on my knees, leaning over him. The debris clattered against my back, but it was painless with the metal barrier surrounding me. When it stopped falling, I lifted the face mask and smirked at Tony, earlier aggressions at least temporarily forgotten. "I guess I'm the one saving you now."

"I saved you first," he argued half-heartedly. "But like I said, we can't stay here."

"Ass," I shook my head and stood with him.

We were only on our feet for mere seconds before more projectiles came jetting into the living room. I was barely able to keep my balance, and that was only because of the suit. Tony was launched across the room, behind the couch and next to the broken window. "Move!" he yelled. "I'm right behind you!"

I ran towards the front door, but froze in my tracks when the floor cracked in half, separating me from Tony. "Get her," Tony said, pointing at Maya on the floor. "I'm gonna find a way around." I scoffed and opened my mouth to argue, but he didn't let me. "Stop stopping! Get her, get outside. I will meet you there."

"If you don't meet me out there-"

"Go!"

I snatched Maya off the ground, wrapping my arm around her waist to help her walk and headed towards the front door. I lifted my hand towards the door. "Fire repulsors, J." The beam of light shot out, blasting a hole through the wall. I ran out with Maya just as another missile hit, and we both went flying out into the driveway. "Are you okay?" She didn't answer. " _Are you okay?_ " She nodded. "Good. Stay here."

The face mask dropped back into place, and I sprinted back into the house, chanting the same phrase over and over in my head. _Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, you can't die in the middle of a fight, please don't be dead._

" _Miss Charlotte, I'm going to have to ask you to remain outside."_

I didn't even think to correct him calling me Charlotte again. "I'm not staying out here to let Tony die, Jarvis."

" _You must remain outside so that I may send the suit back to Mr. Stark."_

I stopped just outside of the front doors, thinking. "You'll get him out of there?"

" _I will do everything within my power, Miss Charlotte."_

I sighed and took a step back from the house. "Save him, J. I need him."

" _Yes, ma'am."_

The suit dismantled around me, separate pieces flying back inside and after Tony. I stood watching on the edge of my toes, gripping my hands into fists, as repulsor rays shot out of the house and after the helicopters. One went down, then another. Before he could shoot down the third, it fired another missile into the house- how many of those did these people have?- and it started to lean down towards the water.

The house was breaking off in pieces, collapsing into the ocean below, and I had no idea where Tony was. Now I may be a genius, but I don't have much common sense. Especially when people I love are in danger. I ran to the edge of what was left of the house, and searched the water frantically for any signs of life, screaming at the top of my lungs. "Tony? _Tony!_ "


	6. Chapter Five

_A/N:_

 _I have a quick question before you continue reading. Considering most of IM3 revolves around Tony's time alone in Tennessee, this story will only follow the movie through Chapter Eight. So my question for you is:_

 _Would you like me to continue this story after the movie, or do you want me to end this story after the movie ends and start up a different sequel later on?_

 _I saw Age of Ultron opening night, and I can tell you all right now that Charlie will most definitely continue her story for as long as I have the inspiration for her. This obviously means that I have a sequel planned with Charlie included in AofU._

 _Would you prefer AT continue through up until AofU, or should I end the story with the movie and make the 5 year gap between IM3 and AofU a separate story?_

 _Please review or message me to let me know what you think. :)_

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

It didn't take long for the house to be filled with strangers. Cops, fire department, reporters, camera crews, the whole lot of them, asking question. Always with the questions.

"Why do you think Tony gave away his home address?"

"Did he realize he was putting you in danger?"

"Where were you when the incident occurred?"

"Do you believe that Mr. Stark is dead?"

Questions, questions, too many questions. I didn't answer a single one.

I was still standing at the edge of the broken house, which was really only a cement floor now. Maya had been dragged of by some EMT's, but I refused to move. Refused to speak. They had wrapped a shock blanket around me once, but I just shrugged it off. I didn't want a stupid blanket.

In my hands was the Iron Man helmet, a crack running straight down the middle of the face mask. I didn't know how it had ended up at my feet, and I didn't remember picking it up, but somehow it was in my hands now. One of the few things that had survived the attack.

I hated it. I didn't want to see it, didn't want to look at it, didn't want to ever hear the name Iron Man again.

I don't have family. Family has never ended well for me. I had taken a risk with the Avengers- with Tony. I had taken a risk, and this is what happened. The difference between my biological family and Tony was that I had chosen him, and that only made it so much worse to lose him. This time, I wasn't going to run and hide in a basement. I was going to get what Tony had wanted in the first place. Revenge.

On my way to the one car that had survived the attack, the silver Audi R8 e-tron, I grabbed Maya's wrist and dragged her along behind me. "Woah, wait," she said, tugging away from me. She wasn't going to get away that easily. "Wait, where are we going?"

"Stop talking, or I'm going to hurt you." She shut up, and I opened the passenger side door, practically shoving her inside. I walked around and climbed into the driver's seat, absentmindedly buckling my seatbelt before taking off through the driveway and down the street. Once we were on the highway, I spoke again. "What did you come to the house to tell Tony?"

Maya hesitated, probably wondering whether or not to trust me, but fortunately settled on just telling me whether she trusted me or not. "I think that my boss is working for the Mandarin." I sighed, fighting the urge to ram her side of the car into a pole. "So, if you still want to talk about it, I suggest we go someplace safe."

"So I take it you're not a botanist?"

"No. I'm actually a biological DNA decoder running a team of 40 out of a privately funded think tank. But, sure. You can call me a botanist."

"Think tank?" That sounded eerily familiar. "Who do you work for?"

"Aldrich Killian."

"That motherfucker," I chuckled darkly, shaking my head. "Real fucking funny, Gatekeeper."

"Gate-? Is that another nickname?"

I ignored that question, instead asking my own. "Where is he?"

"Who, Killian?"

"No, Santa!" I slapped the steering wheel. " _Yes,_ Killian! Where is he?"

"Look, let's just get someplace safe, then I'll tell you everything."

This wasn't going anywhere. Luckily, I had some great friends back in New York that had taught me how to deal with people that don't feel like cooperating. "I don't think you understand." I reached under the steering wheel and pulled out the hidden pistol, pressing it against her temple. Thanks, Natasha. "You're going to tell me where Killian is, or I'm going to blow your fucking brains out."

"Are you insane?" she screeched, gripping the sides of her chair.

"It's been brought up once or twice. Now are you going to tell me where I can find him, or am I going to have to kill you?"

* * *

After she told me where I could find Killian, I pulled into the nearest hotel parking lot and practically shoved her out of my car. Before she could protest, I slammed the door and drove away, already dialing the phone. I didn't want to ask for help, but there was no way in hell I was going to kill this guy without some professional tips.

"Hello?"

"I need your help," I said, setting the phone on speaker and placing it on the dashboard. "It's important."

"What do you need?"

"How do I sneak into a building so I can kill somebody without dying myself?"

"What are you getting yourself into?" Natasha sighed. She had made me promise a long time ago that if I was ever in dangerous situations that I call her first. This was the first time I had ever called her for this kind of advice, but I knew that she wouldn't try to talk me out of it like the others would have.

"He killed Tony."

There was a beat of silence. Then, "Do you still have the gun I gave you?"

* * *

I parked the car hidden behind some bushes and slipped my phone into my back pocket, holding the gun in both hands out in front of me. This was the place Maya had told me Killian would be, which means I was going to have to find a way in without alerting anybody.

Stepping as lightly as possible, I walked with my back against the outer wall. I could feel my heart throbbing in every part of my body, and I was lightheaded from the adrenaline pumping in my veins. I had never done anything like this. This was even scarier than being on the roof of Stark Tower back in New York, because this time if I was seen, I didn't have the Avengers around to save my ass.

I was completely on my own here. That thought was terrifying, which meant I needed to get rid of it.

"Step one," Natasha had said. "Never feel the fear. Acknowledge that it's there, because knowing that you're not invincible can keep you alive. But don't feel it. It will slow you down."

I made it through the gardens without any problems, and I let out a deep breath before pushing a side window open and crawling through.

"Step two. Entry. Never go in through the front door, but don't go through the back either. Both are too obvious, and will be the most heavily guarded entry points."

When I was sure nobody was in the same room as me, I walked over to a nearby computer and shifted it so I was able to log into it while facing the door. This way I would be able to anybody who came in before they saw me.

"Step three. Recon. Find out what it is they do. You always want to know just as much as everybody else, if not more."

I scrolled through hundreds of files, skimming through and memorizing everything I could. It was all about Extremis, test subjects, successes and failures, the Mandarin. Maya was right. Killian invented Extremis in an attempt to better the human race, and it would sometimes prove useful by accomplishing its intended purpose.

It regrew limbs, gave people incredible speed, strength, and agility. They were essentially superhuman. But other times, it failed. This is where the Mandarin became involved.

Killian sold his failures to the Mandarin in an attempt to cover them up. If the body rejected the Extremis, it would overheat and explode, killing every living thing within a 20 foot radius. Thus, the Mandarin was born, using these already dying people as suicide bombers.

"Step four. Assess. Find the intended target through any means necessary."

I shut the computer down and hurried over to the door, cracking it open and peeking through to the hallway. It looked empty, so I slipped out and went down the right side. There were dozens of doors, but all of the rooms were empty. Where the hell was everybody?

The very last door was the only one that was closed, and when I pushed it open it seemed all too perfect that the only person in there was Killian himself, sitting with his back to me.

"Step five. Complete the mission."

I stepped lightly into the room, holding the gun at eye level and breathing steadily. "Turn around," I instructed.

Killian stood and turned to face me. Seriously, did this asshole ever stop smiling? "Hello, Charlie. I told you I would see you again soon."

I stalked further in, never lowering my gun. "You work for the Mandarin."

"In a sense," Killian shrugged.

"You kill people."

"No," he shook his head. "No, Charlie. I'm helping people, _curing_ them. Sometimes the treatment plan just doesn't work out for the best. It's a work in progress."

"You killed Tony."

"That one," he pointed at me, chuckling. "Yes, I did do that. It was a shame, actually. He could have helped me perfect the Extremis. He could have helped both of us."

"What do you mean both of us?"

A pair of arms circled around me, knocking the gun out of my hand and gripping me so tightly that I could barely struggle. That didn't stop me from trying, however. I kicked as hard as I could, but whoever was holding me didn't seem to even register the pain.

"You see Charlie," Killian said, stepping around me. "I'm running out of volunteers for this program, considering I've had to keep it underground for so long. You really are very kind to have shown up here all by yourself. It saved me the trouble of having Maya set up an ambush for you."

I stopped kicking when I saw the arms in front of me start to glow orange. The Extremis. That's why he didn't let go when I was fighting.

"We always worked so well together," Killian continued. "Lockpick and Gatekeeper. We were unstoppable. Anything we wanted was ours. What happened to that bond, Charlie?"

"We never had a _bond_ ," I scoffed, shaking my head. "I don't bond, Richie."

"You bonded with Tony."

"You don't get to talk about him," I growled, narrowing my eyes.

Killian pursed his lips and shrugged. "Fair enough. Now, since it's fairly obvious that you aren't going to cooperate with me any time soon, I'm afraid I'm just going to have to use force to get what I want." He nodded to whoever was holding me, and I blacked out.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

I woke up strapped to a vertical stand, with clear tubes poking into my right elbow. I followed the trail up and saw that the wires were connected to a bright orange liquid, trickling into my veins. I knew immediately what it was- Extremis. That would explain why my entire body felt like it was on fire.

I fought against the straps binding me to the table in a desperate attempt to free myself. If my body refused the drug, I would only have minutes to live. I planned on living much, much longer than that. The straps didn't budge, though, and I was stuck in an empty room, waiting for something to happen, knowing that it wouldn't be anything good.

I was right. Seconds after I woke up, Killian came into the room with two other men following behind him. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty."

"I have to ask," I sighed. "Do you _ever_ not smile? It's amazingly disconcerting."

His smile grew, which I guess was the answer to my question. "I'm sure you know what all this is," he said, waving his hand around in the direction of the liquids.

"Well, I _am_ a genius."

"With very little common sense."

"Rude," I scoffed.

"You pointed a gun at me."

"You killed my boyfriend."

Killian smirked, walking closer and handling the Extremis. "You still believe that?"

Believe that? I saw it happen, of course I believed it. There was no way Tony actually survived that… Was there? He did survive flying a nuke into a space portal. No. No, I was not going to let Killian screw with my emotions. Not when he was already screwing with my body.

"Now, I'm going to start this right here," he said, referring to a second bag of Extremis. When he did, the liquid slithered through the second tube and into my arm. My arm twitched at the sudden heat, and I stared with mixed horror and wonder as I watched the Extremis work its way through my veins. "And we'll know pretty soon whether or not you'll survive this. Now, seriously. About Tony."

"Didn't I tell you not to talk about him?" I groaned. The heat was making my stomach clench, my lungs were on fire, and my head was pounding.

"Even if I'm telling you that he's alive?"

"Shut up," I sighed, shutting my eyes. "Just stop talking. You're going to make my ears bleed."

"The Extremis will fix that right up for you. Assuming your body accepts it, which I think it will. You've performed fabulously so far."

He was standing right in front of me now, and I would have taken an extra-large step back if it was possible. "Dude, you're making me super uncomfortable."

"And I would never want you to feel uncomfortable," he chuckled.

I didn't think he was going to move, but the familiar whirring of a machine had him turn his back to me. In through the door stepped something I had not expected to see at all.

War Machine. Renamed Iron Patriot whenever the Mandarin showed up, but one thing Tony and I agreed on was that War Machine was so much cooler. "Good evening, sir," Killian greeted. Sir? I hadn't really expected Rhodey to be in there, but who would Richie call 'sir'?

The suit opened, and the man who fell out was somebody that both surprised me, but wasn't really all that surprising at the same time. President Ellis. "Welcome aboard, Mr. President!" Killian saluted. "Let's show him the deck, hmm?"

The two men Killian had originally walked in with grabbed Ellis by the arms and dragged him out of the room. Killian turned back to smile at me one more time before following after them and shutting the door behind him. Once I was alone again, I dropped my carefree façade and took a deep, shuddering breath, clenching my eyes shut and grinding my teeth. The pain was unbearable. The only thing I could compare it to was the headache from back on the Helicarrier, but even that seemed to pale in comparison to what I was feeling now.

From outside I could hear shouting and gunfire, but all I could focus on was the searing heat taking over my body.

Why do the villains always want me to burn? I thought, focusing on breathing. The only thing that could be worse than this fire would be it making me explode into tiny, orange flamey bits. So even though every breath, every heartbeat felt like it would be my last, I willed myself to keep fighting.

The sounds of battle outside were growing louder and louder. My best guess as to what was happening was that somebody had come to save the President.

I could feel my consciousness slipping, so I opened my eyes in an attempt to stay awake. No matter how tempting giving up seemed, I couldn't help but think of what Killian had said- that Tony was alive. It seemed impossible, and thanks to my previous experiences, I really didn't want to hope for it.

I found myself hoping nonetheless. Maybe- just maybe- Tony was out there, fighting for me, right now. Alive and well. This thought kept me going. Even though every changing cell in my body screamed at me to give in, I kept my eyes open.

Just as the heat started to subside, something came soaring through the wall to my left, exploding inside of the room and sending everything flying- including me. The straps keeping me on the table somehow burned off, and I ended up pinned underneath a pile of rubble. I shifted onto my side as carefully as I could, and held my hands up above me.

I could hear metal clanging against metal, and instantly recognized it as the footsteps of an Iron Man suit. "Charlie?"

It was him. "Damn you, Tony!" I shouted, but the anger I wanted to feel was no match against the relief flooding over me like a tidal wave.

"I come to save you and this is the thanks I get?" My smile grew ten times bigger at the familiar smirk in his voice, and I twisted so that I was able to see the red boots of the suit.

"Just get me out, you idiot." He grabbed the steel beams and started to lift, but when he did it shifted the other rubble around me, causing it to start falling around me again. "Wait, stop! Stop!"

Tony carefully lowered the beams back to the ground, and I sighed, wondering how many times I was almost going to die. He kneeled down and lifted his face mask, and I was glad that the only signs he had ever been hurt were a few small scratches on his face. "See what happens when you hang out with my ex-girlfriends?"

He held his hand out to me, and I reached out as slowly as I could as to not risk moving the rubble around me any further. "You're an ass, do you know that?"

"We can talk about it over dinner," he wiggled his fingers. "Come on. Just a little more, honey."

Our fingers brushed a few times before he could get a solid hold, but the moment we did he was ripped away from me. A glowing orange arm shot through the floor and grabbed Tony's chest, burning through the metal and throwing him back.

Killian came through the floor, and I was astonished once again by just how crazy powerful the Extremis was. The Extremis that was inside of me now. Could I do all this crazy stuff he was doing?

"Is this guy bothering you?" Killian asked me, pointing at Tony while he walked towards him and straddled him. When Tony started to fight, Killian placed a single finger over his chest and started to shush him. "Is it getting a little hot in there? Stuck- do you feel stuck? Like a little turtle, cooking in his little turtle suit?"

"You are increasingly, inconveniently annoying," I told Killian, staring at Tony. He turned to meet my gaze, and I offered him the best smile I could give at the time.

"She's watching," Killian said, ignoring me. "She's not going to look away, either. She's stubborn. Close your eyes, Tony." He didn't look away from me. "Close your eyes. Close your eyes, you don't want to see this."

When Tony still kept his eyes open, Killian lifted his arm to punch him. At the last second, Tony lifted his arm and a dagger shot out of a hidden compartment, slicing Killian's arm right under the elbow. His hand landed just a few feet away, still glowing.

Killian stumbled off of Tony, clutching his arm, but I could see that it was already growing back. "Yeah, you take a minute," Tony taunted.

The hand in front of me melted through the floor. This caused the fragile steel surrounding me to finally crumble, and I went through the floor soon after, landing on a swinging metal platform. "Shit, shit, shit," I repeated to myself, trying to free my legs from underneath one of the thick poles.

A loud horn blared through the air, and the platform I was trapped on started to move. "Not good, not good," I muttered, pulling on my leg again. When my yanking caused the rubble to push me back so that my torso was hanging off the edge of the platform, I stopped struggling and started holding on for dear life. The air around me was filled with flying suits, and I vaguely wondered exactly how many Tony had built in his free time.

As my crappy luck would have it, the platform stopped hanging over a fiery pit of freaking doom. Awesome. Just dandy.

Tony came running across the grated pathways, climbing a ladder up to stand a few feet in front of me. I watched warily as he positioned himself leaning over the edge of the railing, and I had a mini heart attack, remembering what happened last time he stood at the edge of something.

"Alright, Charlie, I got you." He held his arm out as far as it would do, and I glanced nervously at the rubble pinning me to the platform. "Don't look at that, Charlie, look at me." After a moment of deliberation, I tore my eyes away from my prison and watched Tony. "Good girl. Don't be scared."

"Scared?" I chuckled. "I'm not scared, what made you think that?"

Tony shook his head. "Honey, I can't reach any further and you can't stay there. All right? I need you to let go."

" _Let go?_ " I practically shrieked.

"I need you to trust me, okay? Just let go. I'll catch you, I promise. You'll be-"

"Every time you tell me I'll be all right, one of us gets seriously injured," I cut him off. "Please don't promise I'll be all right."

"Okay," he nodded. "Okay, but I still need you to let go."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded with him, slowly releasing my grip on the steel beam with my other hand still reaching out. As soon as I let go, I started sliding off the platform and towards Tony. When I fell off, I stretched my arm as far as it would go, but it wasn't enough.

I could hear Tony screaming as I plummeted closer and closer to the fire hundreds of feet below me.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

People have different ideas of what happens when you think you're about to die. Some people say your entire life flashes before your eyes, and you relive your past mistakes and achievements before the end.

Other people say that you see a white light at the end of a long tunnel. This is supposedly heaven.

Peaceful. Terrifying. Happy. Sad. Anger. Grief. Relief.

Maybe it's different for everybody, because I didn't experience any of this. I didn't remember my childhood, I didn't look back fondly on my time with my friends. I didn't feel relieved that the pain was almost over. I didn't fear what was to come.

Oddly enough, I was annoyed. I was irritated with the world for being such a dark, twisty, irrational, and unforgivable place. Why were happy moments so far and few between, while the bitter ones seemed so constant? Nothing makes much sense. Dying didn't give me any form of clarity on that.

I fell into the bonfire below, crashing through the exploded crates and landing inside the scorching flames.

But I wasn't dead.

I could most definitely feel the results of my fall, which had resulted in what I was guessing were multiple broken bones, tears, scratches and bruises.

But I wasn't dead.

Seriously, I must be the daughter of Hercules or some crazy shit like that, because no matter how often or badly I got the crap kicked out of me, I never died. It's actually pretty awesome.

Speaking of awesome, as I laid among the remains of the oil rig, I could feel my body repairing itself from the inside out. This must have been one of the side effects of the Extremis, because only minutes passed before I was able to get back on my feet, the pain from my fall already nothing but a distant memory.

I walked out of the fire, barely even noticing the heat rolling off it, and it was when I was standing in the dark of night when I noticed that the orange glow over my body was not coming from the flames, but from inside of me. I was dressed in a sports bra and yoga pants, and the glowing that started in my fists clearly worked its way in twisted patterns along every bit of exposed skin. The Extremis had worked its way into all of my systems, and you could see it plain as day.

Movement caught my eye to my left, and I saw Tony with only an arm and a leg of the Iron Man suit struggling on the ground with Killian closing in on him, radiating a darker, harsher orange than me. "No more false faces!" he shouted. "You said you wanted the Mandarin. You're looking right at him. It was always me, Tony. Right from the start."

What a helpful tidbit of information. Now I could finish what I had set out to do and not feel at all bad about it later. Determined to not let anything get in my way this time, I made my way over to Killian and Tony as quickly as I could- which was a lot faster than I expected. Right. Extremis. Still getting used to that.

I grabbed onto a black rope without thinking and swung down from my spot above the boys. "I am the Mandarin!" Killian screamed just before I slammed into him, knocking him back into the wall.

"So you're the Scary Orange," I panted, dropping off the rope. "That makes a scary amount of sense."

I looked down to Tony, who was staring up at me in shock from his spot on the ground. "I got nothin'," he shrugged. Killian stood up and glared at me, but I was too busy staring up at the Iron Man suit flying towards me with its palms extended, repulsed charging. "Jarvis, subject at my 12 is not a target- disengage," Tony commanded, but the suit didn't slow down.

The suit fired at me, but before I even knew I had moved I was out of the blast's range. Plans of action were calculating in my head without my permission, but I didn't fight them, instead letting my instincts take over. I turned to face Tony, and started running for him. "Wait, are you made at me now?" he asked, but I tuned him out and kept running.

When I was standing right in front of him, I kicked off his shoulder into the air just as the suit was flying over me. My heated fist burned straight through the metal when I hit it, and it crashed into the ground with me when I landed.

Killian was charging at me, so I ripped the arm of the suit off and swung it out to punch him. While he was on the ground, I connected the metal arm to my own and grabbed an armed missile from the ground. Before he was even back on his feet, I threw the missile towards him and lifted the iron arm, blasting the explosive to detonate it.

The fire consumed Killian, and when it died down he was nowhere in sight. I took slow, deep breaths to calm down, lowering my metal arm back down to my side. He was gone. _Finally_. "Honey?"

I looked back over my shoulder and saw that Tony was standing, watching me carefully. For some reason it reminded me of him asking why I had been considered a potential threat. I supposed I seemed threatening enough now. "I've been waiting to do that since he broke our house," I chuckled, breathing heavily through the adrenaline rush.

"You just scared the devil out of me," Tony sighed. "I thought you were-"

"Dead?" I finished for him. "Now why on earth would you think that? Nothing's been able to kill me so far."

"Yeah, you're invincible," he teased, grabbing his dropped earpiece from the ground and fitting it back on. "Hey, why don't you dress like this at home? Sport bra, whole deal. Very sexy."

"Duly noted," I nodded with a smile. Now that nobody was trying to kill us, I could take a second to appreciate the fact that Tony was still very much alive. "I'm kind of bummed, though. Your stupid suit saved our asses. What the hell do I complain about now?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something. You're creative like that."

Tony came closer to me and a small wave of panic shot through me, causing me to step back. "Hold up, wait! I don't want to burn you."

"Don't worry about it. It's fine." He touched my shoulder, and when he didn't flinch I let out a sigh. "See? It doesn't hurt. Come here."

He pulled me into a hug that I returned gratefully. "So," I started. "Everything's okay now. I think."

"Mm, no." I felt Tony shake his head above mine. "You're dating me. Things will never be okay for long. But this Extremis thing, I can fix this. I almost fixed it 20 years ago when I was drunk. It shouldn't be a problem now."

"Oh, I don't know," I shrugged. "Having super powers might not be so bad, considering the kind of people I hang around."

"You would want to keep it." Tony pulled back from the hug, rubbing his eyes. "We can talk about that later. For now... Jarvis?" He tapped the comm in his ear. "You know what to do. It's Christmas." The suits flying above us started to self-destruct, one by one, and I watched on in awe. "I'm shaving down a bit on the distractions," he explained. "So what do you think? Do you like it?"

I lowered my gaze from the homemade firework show to the man standing in front of me with a hopeful expression, and I felt a heat completely different from the Extremis. This crazy, arrogant, sarcastic asshole of a man that bounced back and forth between making me want to run back to my basement and run straight into his arms. He had been nothing but a pain in my ass since the moment I met him, and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.

"Have I ever told you that I love you?" I asked, grinning. "Because I do. Love you. When you died- or didn't die, actually, you know what I mean- I thought I was going to die too. But I couldn't, because the person who had killed you was still out there. I was willing to kill for you. I mean, God damn, that's harsh. What was I talking about?" I chuckled nervously. "Right. I love you. Yeah. I said it."

Tony blinked and broke out into a wide smile before clearing his throat. "You are by far the weirdest person I have ever met in my entire life. You're insane, and immature, and wonderful. Hell, out of every other crazy person you've met, you chose to stay with me. That alone proves that you're completely incapable of making sound decisions. But, yeah. Yeah, I love you too."

I grabbed the back of his neck, yanking him down to my height and into a kiss.

Life with Tony is anything except perfect. At times, it almost didn't seem worth the effort. But no matter how many doubts I had, he would come around with something like miraculously surviving a plunge into the ocean and saving my life, and I couldn't help but fall even deeper into love with him.

Not a day went by that I didn't think about my abandoned hideout, tempting me to return to my life before the Avengers. But I knew without a doubt that I could never go back to being a hermit. Tony had changed me too much as a person, and that was not necessarily a bad thing.


	9. Sequel

Attention Readers:

The third part in this series is titled **It's Not Over** and the prologue has been posted. It will follow Charlie and the Avengers throughout the Age of Ultron storyline. I hope you'll enjoy it. :)


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